Steven Hatfill

If you recall the government's "person of interest" in the anthrax attacks, you might recall his impassioned presentations with his attorney in 2001-2002. He always seemed pretty sincere, and truly bewildered about why the government was putting him through such an ordeal.

I remember watching him and feeling sorry for him. It seemed like they should either put up the evidence and arrest him or leave the poor guy alone. They badgered him mercilessly.

Well, now it looks like he -- Steven Hatfill -- has the last laugh. The government settled with him and he's been awarded $5.8 million for his trouble -- the trouble they put him through.

The government's incompetence in the Bush years has been staggering. Really, aren't we all entitled to a few million bucks for what Bush and his incompetent Administration have put us through? I'll consider my stimulus check a down payment.

But it's a happy ending for Steven Hatfill, who apparently didn't deserve any of the grief they put him through.

McCain Confuses His G.I. Bill Stand

Just the other day, John McCain was against the G.I. Bill of Rights, giving better benefits to veterans. That's against, in that he opposed it, didn't think it was a good idea, said no can do, it's no good, should not be done under any circumstances.

But now that the Bush-McCain opposition has been overcome and the bill made it through Congress, sailing through, McCain is taking credit for it. Is that unbelievable or what?

"I'm happy to tell you that WE probably agreed to an increase in educational benefits for our veterans that not only gives them increase in their educational benefits, but if they stay in for a certain period of time than they can transfer those educational benefits to their spouses and or children." (My exasperated emphasis.)

I'm going to be charitable and suggest maybe he's just confused.

The Great Movie Shorts

The other book I got today at the library, off the discard table, is called The Great Movie Shorts -- Those Wonderful One- and Two-Reelers of the Thirties and Forties by Leonard Maltin.

It was published in 1972, Bonanza Books, hardback, 236 pages.

This was before videos were available, just TV, and some of the episodes -- maybe most of them -- were seen there whenever they happened to come on.

I remember on one of our channels at the time, Sunday mornings I believe it was, they featured Laurel and Hardy films, the shorts, which were very enjoyable. We made a point of watching it.

The biggies for me that are in this book are The Little Rascals and The Three Stooges. The Rascals were on TV once in a while, and it seems like they had a dedicated time for them too, but I don't remember seeing them in an orderly way, like, "Hey, let's watch the Rascals." I remember later on there was a time they were on and I saw them occasionally. The Three Stooges are the real biggies. And still are. At my grandpa's place we had two basic shows to watch, the news and the Stooges. Now I have an assortment of Stooges from over the years, videos taped off TV, a few videos purchased, and more recently, the collected, in-order sets that present the shorts in remastered form. These are fantastic. Vol. 2 just came out in the last month, and I finished watching them (the first time through) this morning.

But back to the book. The book tells of the various studios making short films. Then it gets into the various actors and acts, in a section called "The Series." These include, and my list is not exhaustive by far, Charley Chase, W.C. Fields, Buster Keaton, and others. W.C. Fields, I was surprised to see, only had five short films, talkies that is.

A real good thing about the book is that it gives a little synopses of each film from the actors and acts. The episodes are numbered, etc. Also there's lots of good black and white photos, and a good index.

Gargantua

I should be thinning down on possessions -- books -- but I'm still fattening up. Anyway, life goes on...

I got a couple books today at the library, off the close-out, discard table. I was looking at the table a couple days ago and this book about Gargantua wasn't there then. So it's a newbie to the discards!

The book is called Gargantua -- Circus Star of the Century, by Gene Plowden, published by Bonanza Books, 1972, hardback, a slender book at 96 pages.

According to the blurb, once upon a time, Gargantua was a household name throughout the country. Millions paid admission to see "this ugliest member of the ape family ever seen outside the jungles of Africa." From chapter one: He was "The mightiest monster ever captured by man."

The book is a biography of sorts and tells of Gargantua's handling and his career with the circus. I've only been looking at the pictures and reading a few snippets here and there. And there are lots of pictures.

There's a few pages in color. First is a circus poster from Dec. 1937 that shows an African warrior in Gargantua's clutches. Second, Gargantua with M'Toto (another gorilla) who were "married" in Feb. 1941, then billed as Mr. and Mrs. Gargantua. Third, a rather touching Christmas sentiment, with Mr. and Mrs. Gargantua framed inside a wreath, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, in 1941. Fourth, a general publicity poster of the gorilla couple, with Mrs. Gargantua holding a "Buy War Bonds" sign. (The illustration on this blog posting is from the Google somewhere, not a graphic in the book.)

Getting toward the end, there's two pages that show the front pages of newspaper from the time when Gargantua died. The Miami Herald from Nov. 26, 1949, has him on the front page, and headlines it that he was "happy" to the end, dying "With A Snarl On His Face." The other page is from the Miami Daily News, Nov. 25, with a big black headline, "GARGANTUA DIES" and a picture of him in his cage. This news article beat other news that day in significance, including "Mad Dog Killer Loses Last Plea," with a federal district judge refusing to intervene in the scheduled execution of James Morelli, "mad dog" killer.

Page 94, the last picture page, has Gargantua's stripped-down skeleton hung on a wooden frame, with a guy assembling it for putting it on display.

John McCain's Unwanted Iowa Visit

John McCain, being the maverick he is, thumbed his nose at Iowa officials who pleaded with him not to campaign in the state during flood clean-up. Barack Obama had scheduled a visit in Iowa but canceled it at the request of state officials.

The concern had to do with diverting law enforcement resources from the recovery effort to security for the candidates. But John McCain, a maverick, a loose cannon, perhaps suffering from confusion over even a simple request, ignored basic decency and bulled his way into the state anyway.

Patrick Dillon, Iowa Governor Chet Culver's chief of staff, said, "As a courtesy — and as we did for Senator Obama — we privately made an effort to make sure that Senator McCain knew that state and local resources were still being deployed to support the flood fight and that now may not be the best time for a campaign trip."

Dillon's comments came as President Bush was touring the state, also craning his neck, rubbernecking, gawking both to his right and left like a busybody fascinated at so much suffering. Officials pointed out to the leader that the water stretching out for miles was no longer in the river channel and that this was a problem. For Bush's sightseeing vacation hundreds of law enforcement officers had to be diverted from flood recovery to provide security.

In a related story, John McCain last year opposed legislation that included money for flood control in Des Moines. McCain spokesman, Jeff Sadowsky, responded: "We do not need to play politics with flooding that has brought so much harm and pain throughout the region." There is no mention in the article whether he said this with a straight face. Our own surmise is that he was probably fidgeting nervously, rocking back and forth on his heels, daubing his forehead with a tissue, and hoping no one would call him on such a blatant crock of crap.

In the end, John McCain's intrusive, foolhardy event began, then finally, mercifully, ended. He was last seen paddling his "Straight Talk Canoe" off to somewhere he is wanted, wherever that may be.

Misremembering Lyrics

I just had a piece of a tune and lyrics pop into my head, but I couldn't place it. Mind wracking. I could get a few words then a piece of music. But the Google couldn't help. I thought it was "Janey was in pigtails, back in 1965," but nothing in that brought up any answers.

Next step, go look at my CDs and try to jog my memory while going over the snippets. Finally I thought of the next bit, "Bring back the Boston rag," so that answered it that it was Steely Dan.

But when I checked out the lyrics, there was nothing about Janey in pigtails. It was "Lonnie was the kingpin, back in 1965."

So here I sit with a great lyric about Janey in pigtails in 1965 and nothing I can do about it.

His Head's Shaved

The guy at Every Time I Poop got his head shaved.

It's worth taking a look, but please don't blame me if (or when) you disagree.

Cindy McCain Plagiarizes Another Recipe

Link. Maybe the McCains go out to eat all the time and Cindy doesn't actually have any recipes. And so she needs to lift them from websites and claim them as her own, or the recipe of "a friend."

Here's a couple:

BOILED WATER

Put water in a saucepan. Choose a pan that will hold the quantity desired. Set pan of water on turned-on burner. Leave alone and do something else because a watched pot never boils. Return in a few minutes. If you see bubbles bubbling up, it's done. Serves four, serving sizes each a fourth of the water in the pan.


POACHED WATER

Same as "boiled water," just a different name.


SALT SANDWICH

Two slides of bread per sandwich, sprinkle salt to taste, put one slice on top of the other. Serve.

Tim Russert

I saw that Tim Russert died and I thought it had to be a joke, a bit of blog snark that wasn't going to be funny. But the context and the links checked out. And so it turned out to be true.

That's unbelievable. He never really looked like a "candidate" for a quick heart attack where they'd be unable to help him. But we only see the outside and he had a moderately vigorous look. And there's no way for us to know how he took care of himself. But it can happen very quickly.

I had a hard time liking his style on "Meet the Press." He'd get someone on there -- if it was someone I liked -- and invariably go for the "gotcha" stuff. "You said in 1992...but now in 2004 you say..." And in the Democratic debates he was relentless with that same stuff.

But a couple times I caught parts of his program on MSNBC that obviously had a more laid-back vibe, everyone very casual, a totally black background, laughing, camaraderie, telling stories, seeming to enjoy politics as a thing with a heritage to appreciate. He was more likable in that setting, that's for sure.

Tim Russert was definitely knowledgeable and made an impact in politics and journalism.

Desi is God

The blog of a young teenage woman, Desi, who says she's God.

Her grandma got her a pink Bible, not a gift she liked.

She has a music player, which is cool. I kept it on because I love the song by One Republic, 'Stop and Stare,' but since I haven't had the radio on much lately, and I hate to buy tracks at I-Tunes, I haven't heard it much.

There's a lot of these kinds of blogs. But this one has a few little cool things about it.

The Year of a Million Words

Here's someone with a goal of writing a million words in 2008. I've had that goal before, at least conceptually. But I always thought if I were writing about my writing of a million words, eventually the commentary on the act would overwhelm the output of anything interesting. And at the end I'd be saying something like "A thousand to go, and I just did four more there, but with that last phrase and this one, I have 17 or 18 more, depending on whether numbers count as a word, and in saying 17 or 18 I hadn't counted on these last couple of clauses." So you can see the conundrum. But if you just write, write, write, blather on endlessly, I can see how you could do it quite easily.

How to count your words, though, I suppose put the whole thing in Microsoft Word before posting, because it the number of words...

His blog is at this link.

Here's a piece of a post from today:

This is what I did tonight when I had the room to myself:

Watched Portugal versus Czech Republic, y’know, to unwind after work.

Checked my emails, check my statcounter, read a few other blogs.

Opened a blank document.

Went and looked in the fridge. Decided I’d cook tea.

Ate tea in front of the TV.

Did the dishes.

Decided I should also make my lunch for tomorrow.

Opened an existing story which is missing its final scene.

Checked my emails again.

Lattice of Coincidence

A funny Photoshop picture of Lou Dobbs in full Mexican regalia, with a very cute little dog on his shoulder.

A Fairly Erotic Picture

Quite a photo, no nudity, so you won't get in any trouble clicking it.

Barack Obama's Afro

I'm not going to post the picture, but it's cute.

An India Blog

I'm not too sure what this blog is about yet. But it's about India, and it's in English. Just glancing at it, it has some nice graphics. Part of it looks like fiction, or folk tales, or something. I need a nap, but it's getting too late in the day for one.

Written by Dr. Manoshi Bhattacharya.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fifth Term

We've been saying that John McCain is running for George W. Bush's third term. That makes a certain amount of sense for these reasons: 1) It would be a continuation of the Republicans holding the presidency; 2) John McCain has been very supportive of Bush's policies on the war and on the economy, Bush's two biggest failures; 3) A Republican win would be a vindication of George Bush, since he has such a low approval rating in the country. What he started would continue. It's really nothing against McCain; it's just the facts as they stack up.

Now John McCain says that Barack Obama's presidency would be the second term of Jimmy Carter! That's a headscratcher. Why? There's no continuity, since Carter's presidency was over with in Jan. 1981. There are no particular Carter policies to be continued after all this time. And Obama's election would have nothing to do with vindicating, or in anyway impacting Carter's legacy. So, to me, this is just John McCain not making sense again. It'd make more sense to say Bill Clinton, at least in terms of the timeframe.

But if anyone can be fulfilling anyone else's term or continuing it, why not say Obama would have the second term of Kennedy? The living Kennedy brother supported him, and seemed to be "passing the torch." Obama seems to be the kind of guy who could be transformative to his generation in a way that JFK was inspirational to many in his. Or why not say Obama would have the fifth term of FDR. Or the next term of Harry Truman. Sure, there's no continuity, no vindication, no policies that are overtly being fulfilled. In the case of FDR, we had the depressing presidency of Hoover, kind of a parallel in a loose way to George W. Bush. We need to be lifted out of the ashes again, and there's no way McCain will do that. He's running for president to be president period.

Maybe we could see Obama as the next term of Lincoln. He freed the slaves, all that, and what could be more symbolic in those terms than our first African-American president?

As to who else's term McCain might be continuing, besides the obvious, George W. Bush, well, I already mentioned Herbert Hoover. But the only one that makes any sense is McCain and Bush, because of continuity.

Being Ourself

Beyond Mindfulness, Beyond Oneness

From that site: "This blog is an open discussion about living with the awareness that we are not merely "interconnected" but we are actually all one whole interacting with itself. How do we move beyond mindfulness into a state of action springing from the wholeness of the "now" (as Eckhart Tolle refers to it)? The site's founder is author Ty Clement, whose book Being Ourself (www.beingourself.com) is due for release in Spring 2009 by O-Books (www.o-books.net)and explores similar issues."

Open discussion...ABOUT...living with the awareness. So someone has the awareness and has been living with it, that we are not merely "interconnected" -- we being you and me -- but we are actually all one whole...interacting with itself. The first part of what we're aware of is that we are not merely interconnected. So we set up the thought of interconnection, community, joint-purpose, shared self-interest, while thinking individually, and say that's not it. Then we understand that we are actually one whole interacting with itself, live with the awareness, and openly discuss it. We need to assert and demonstrate that the one wholeness is true and what it does, interacts with itself.

Mindfulness in this case must be the awareness that we accept, then moving beyond mindfulness must be moving beyond the awareness, definitions, assertions, to...a state of action...living it...that springs from the wholeness of the "now." It's not good enough just to state things, but to get to a point where it's the real life now. Which I really agree with. I'm generally sick of the constant definition of things, introductions to more introductions.

It's no good to keep saying "life in more abundance" (John 10:10) without ever getting down to living "life in more abundance." Eventually the word has to give way to life, to the point that the page can be wadded up and forgotten. Why do you need a map once you're there?

So Many Records, So Little Time

If you like records, there are interesting blogs out there on the subject. I haven't seen many, but somehow I know they're out there.

Here's one I saw the other day -- and it's added several posts since then -- So Many Records, So Little Time. There are pictures (labels) of records by Inez & Charlie Foxx, The Move, Bo Diddley, Gloria Lynne, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Lonnie Youngblood, Brenda Lee, Georgie Fame, Buster Brown, and a few others. And also a player for listening to some of them.

I think I need one of those players.

The record pictured above is not from that site, but is one of my old favorite records. "Egghead" by Jill Corey. I've had an LP by her too, and maybe still have it somewhere. I've never heard the LP. The song "Egghead" is real cute. He's someone who is a brainiac, knows a lot, but not about love. "Egghead, you're such an egghead, you know an awful lot about an awful lot but there's an awful lot you don't know. You're a genius, you're a whizz. You can win most any quiz. But you're not so smart when it comes to the heart, you're the biggest fizz there is." But it has a happy ending, "Egghead, I love you so!"

So you can just embed songs, like videos. Oh, learn something everyday!

Franklin D. Roosevelt and The Three Stooges

I've been watching the episodes on the new Three Stooges collection, Volume 2 of their Columbia shorts. I've seen a lot of the Three Stooges films, but I've never seen them all, and I've never seen them presented in such a good way -- consecutive, digitally-remastered, all that.

Since I've never seen them all, today I saw one I hadn't seen before -- you know, not that I remember. We used to sit around watching them with Grandpa ages ago, but as far as keeping track at the time, I wasn't.

This episode, then, was a fresh one to me, one that ends up with the Three Stooges in President Roosevelt's office!

It was Number 25 on their list of Columbia shorts, called "Cash and Carry." Getting some info here from The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Released Sept. 3, 1937. Getting very specific there. A guy named Al Richardson played FDR, seen only from the back.

This was a cool looking episode coming on. The Stooges are junkmen and they have a shack in the city dump. I love the setting, the scene. Because, to tell you the truth, I'm a sucker for old time city dumps, love them! They arrive at their house and some kid is there, a boy. He figured no one lived there, so he's going to live there. Jimmy. They nearly throw him out, but they're softhearted, especially when they see he has a brace on his leg.

Then they're out at their heap of cans and they find some money in a can. It turns out this was put there for safe keeping by their mother, who is trying to save money to get Jimmy an operation. It's $62 and they need $500. The Stooges take the money to the bank, but they're swindled out of it by some con men, who give them a worthless treasure map relating to an old house, supposedly where Captain Kidd put his treasure.

They're digging for the treasure and, as luck has it, the U.S. Treasury has an office right next door, vaults. A little more effort and they're in one of the vaults, with all the gold and money sacks. But they get caught and are charged.

This leads us to FDR's office, in which they tell him the whole story, who sees to it that Jimmy gets his operation and the Stooges receive clemency, they salute the president, and that's it.

When I saw the boy with the leg brace, I thought, "ohhh no," I don't want any "touching" Three Stooges episodes. I want nyuks, slaps, shovels to the face, all that, no do-gooding. So, leaving all that out of my consideration, the episode doesn't focus too much on Jimmy. The Stooges are as hilarious as ever when they're digging, when they're in the mansion.

The part with FDR was a complete surprise to me, but a nice surprise.

The Joy of Sex, Sex, and More Sex

Last week I wrote about some boxes of Playboys at a garage sale, and I believe I mentioned how rare that is.

Well, maybe everyone in town is joining a monastery or nunnery, because I was at another garage sale, and there was a couple of boxes of Playboys there, too! But the ones last week were $2.00 apiece, and these this week were only 25 cents each.

The sale was about over with, and they hadn't been bought yet. The people were packing their stuff in totes for storage. So the moment of opportunity to get these was quickly passing.

But what I saw that really caught my eye was outside, a nice big box of sex manuals, like The New Joy of Sex, the original Joy of Sex, etc. I wish I remembered some of the titles, because there were quite a few, maybe 20 books all together with the common theme.

I thought about going back in the garage to take a look at the ladies in charge, and see what was on their mind. But as it turned out, I didn't.

We were talking about it on the way to the car, how unusual that is to see. They were either folks who've learned it all or have given up trying.

McCain Wants Hot Water for Dehydrated Babies

Hillary to Drop Out

I think of "dropping out," being a drop out, and it's not a positive thing. Like if you drop out of the presidential race, can you go back and "get your GED" and become vice president? We're going to find out.

The long race is over. I was a Clinton supporter, for the most part, up till a couple months ago.

I'm very pragmatic, though. I was not personally attached, overly so, so I have no disgruntlement whatsoever. I simply want the Democrat to win, and that's the way it's been all the way along for me. I flirted with Obama, but thought it'd be cool to have a woman president, plus I like the Clintons, even though they put us through some very rough patches.

But when Obama won everything there for a while, and he started looking more inevitable, definite, which was before Easter, I said, OK, Obama, fine with me. He's great. He can do it. At that point, after that somewhere, I wanted it to be over, and it was frustrating for most of us that it kept dragging on and on and on and on.

Now, though, with the official magic number finally attained, and the coming dropping out finally to occur, we can step back and say, "Good!"

Obama's amazing. And it will be in Hillary's mind now and forever of what could have been. Because it is crystal clear to me that she would have been the nominee if Obama hadn't run. The rest of the competition wasn't competition at all. Without Obama, Edwards might have been more of a contender, but I think 2004 sunk him, along with all of his switched positions. It was like he didn't really have a history to go by. Hillary would have been the inevitable candidate, would probably have beaten McCain, and would have been the first woman president! That's really something to have in your mind, thinking, "But for this one guy!" I'm thinking of something I heard that Bing Crosby said about Frank Sinatra, and I don't have the exact quote, but it was something like: 'He's a singer who only comes once in a lifetime. But why'd it have to be my lifetime?'

All things being equal, from here on out, Obama ought to be able to put McCain away fairly easily. There are things about ageism I don't care for. I'm politically correct, all that crap. But there's something in the American psyche, I think it's there, that says we will not choose an old wasteland with young vitality staring us in the face. It's hard to say our best days are before us, it's morning in America, and then pick the Fisher King's sicker grandpa. So I don't see how McCain overcomes the mythology. You know he sleeps in a cryogenic tube. They pack it in a ton of ice every night. That's why the McCain expenses for ice is so high.

Bill Clinton built a bridge to the 21st century, George Bush built a bridge to Idiotsville, and now Barack Obama can get the bridge not only going the right direction again, but lead us to a better future. It's going to be 21st century--Take 2.

One of the Funniest Things I've Seen

Drudge and Obama

Today looks like the day for Barack Obama to finally seal the deal with superdelegates, to put him over the top for the Democratic nomination. Er, for President of the United States, in case you haven't been following it.

Hillary still has some moments, but the news is back and forth whether she will concede, suspend, or just what. The time has definitely come for something, and something's what we're going to get. Maybe later this week, one would assume, there would be a unity appearance with Obama.

There's a good story today -- I read a couple pages of it -- about Matt Drudge. He's really been no one's favorite on the left these years. I've basically avoided going to his site, not entirely, but I was only going there on occasion and with trepidation. The story is that he's been giving Obama pretty good coverage -- the positive spin. And not such great spin for John McCain. I'll take their word for it, and say, if that's so, hurray!

I don't know exactly what's prompted it for me, but I've been checking out Drudge daily for probably the last week. I guess I've heard some of this before, what the Politico story says, but haven't really checked it out to see if it was true. I used to watch his show once in a while -- this was years ago, back when I allowed Fox News on my TV. I thought it had a cool look to it. He was like a hardboiled 1940s character, with the old typewriter and hat. But since then, with the hyper-partisanship of the Bush years, anything that has a hint of the stink of neocons or Republicans, I avoid.

Here's an interesting paragraph from the Politico link: "Drudge-watchers noted that his traffic is increasingly international, bringing him an audience for whom a young charismatic and cosmopolitan Democrat who defies ethnicity is a fascination — unlike his opponent, just another white Republican male." I like that. And I think that says a lot about what we're in for if Obama can win the election. John McCain offers more of the same, and sorrow on the world stage. If McCain were elected, there would be such a loud, global sigh of disgust, it would make Perot's giant sucking sound sound like a dying man sipping on a straw!

But Obama, now there's a cool guy. Like the graf says, young, charismatic, cosmopolitan, defying ethnicity, fascinating. McCain, about to fall over.

We'll be back in business with Obama. We'd be down the drain with McCain.

Playboys at a Garage Sale

I was driving along and saw a garage sale yesterday. So I went over. They had all the usual stuff, books, some VHS tapes, and all the usual junk that people are always trying to get rid of.

But under the table, they had three boxes of Playboys. So I'm figuring they belong to the guy and not his wife. And the guy is maybe 75 -- 70s anyway.

And maybe it's just me, but I don't want to see that. All I can think of at the sale is the "enjoyment" he no doubt got from these magazines there, over a course of years and years, and it's a major ewww thing for me.

By the way, they were $2.00 apiece. But, you know, even if I were in the market for a box of Playboys, which I'm not, to have to drag three boxes up at a garage sale and have the old guy count them out, etc., would be way too much for me.

The small talk -- which is unavoidable at garage sales -- would also be too much. What memories he might share.